Oakland County's L. Brooks Patterson on Detroit's finances

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's declaration Friday that Detroit has a financial emergency really wasn't much of a surprise.

But the specter of an emergency manager to run the state's largest city -- and once the nation's most prosperous -- presents nearly as many questions as the cause of the city's decades of decline.

Among the questions is who the governor might appoint as a manager to run the city and sort out its finances.

Another is whether state law will give any manager enough authority to take the steps necessary to balance the city's books.

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Watch a report on candidates for Detroit's Emergency Manager during today's News at Noon.

Yet another, and perhaps more important question, is who would want the job given that steps that are needed are likely to be wildly unpopular in the city, if not the rest of the state.

From a suburban point of view, there's some concern that the appointment of a manager to run the city should have happened long ago and may now be too little too late.

"It's just a quintessential cluster down there and I just don't think Detroit has many options on the table," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Friday in a question and answer session.

"I think they're heading for certainly an emergency manager and, depending on the authority in the law the new manager will have, it may too late for that and we're looking at a municipal bankruptcy, which I don't want to see."

Here's what Patterson had to say about Detroit's finances, the possible appointment of a manager to run the city, and Snyder's determination Friday that Detroit indeed has a financial emergency:

What would be the effect of a bankrupt Detroit?

"If a bankruptcy hits, then all hell breaks loose. I'll lose my AAA bond rating, which raises the cost of doing business for Oakland County government by a couple million dollars a year. I don't need that insult. The federal judge in bankruptcy could order a regional tax to bail the city out, just as it did with the school system. Did you see what happened with Pontiac schools? The seven communities that send their kids to Pontiac schools are now going to be hit with, I think, was a six-mill increase. That's what could happen in a federal bankruptcy for the city -- Wayne, Oakland and Macomb tapped to help the city, which I would be infuriated because why are you tapping me to help Detroit when they won't help themselves?"

What's next now that the governor has declared Detroit in a financial emergency?

"The city has 10 days to respond to that declaration in any number of ways. They could file a number of lawsuits," Patterson said.

"They're going to try to present a work-out plan. They're probably going to try to get the governor to buy into yet another consent agreement because the other ones failed because Detroit didn't live up to its agreements."

Would anyone want the job of emergency manager in Detroit?

"Probably not. I think the law as drafted is sufficiently restrictive of the powers given over to emergency managers that he can only go so far but not all the way.

"So you've already built in some limitations that probably ultimately cost him his effectiveness," Patterson said. "In other words, I think it's doomed to failure. Detroit is so far beyond the pale. A manager should have been in there a year or two ago."

What's wrong with the state's emergency manager law?

"The law doesn't give the emergency manager the autocratic powers he'll need in order to go in there and sever contracts, and really go in there and grab Detroit by the heels and shake it up."

Who are some of the candidates for emergency manager in Detroit?

"I've heard some names being bandied about. I know Lou Schimmel from Pontiac does not want the job. None of my guys want the job. I think it'll have to be an African American just to keep that level of tension at the lowest point.

"Who's out there with the experience? There's a couple guys," says Patterson. "Joe Harris, former auditor in Wayne County. He's potentially a candidate. They have a guy down there named George Jackson, who is head of their growth group and does great work for the city. Half the things you see on the waterfront and so forth are under George's leadership. I don't know if he feels strong enough as an auditor to go in there and hack and whack. I'm anxious to see who the governor comes up with."

Contact Charles Crumm at 248-745-4649, charlie.crumm@oakpress.com or follow him on Twitter @crummc and on Facebook. More information is at oaklandmichiganpolitics.blogspot.com. Keep up with the latest in local news by texting OPNews to 22700. Msg & Data Rates May Apply. Text HELP for help. Text STOP to cancel.